The headline in the New York Post hints of outrageous pork barrel politics committed by the new and improved NY delegation to the House of Representatives. The article itself is much tamer and I am glad to see these projects getting done. Cleaning up the environment is serious business and if Federal Regulatory agencies are too weak to get things accomplished, then kudos to Congress for stepping up to the plate.
From The New York Post:
WASHINGTON - New York's newly powerful congressional delegation has snagged tens of millions' worth of pork projects to aid local rivers and streams - grabbing cash to clean up babbling brooks in Westchester and combat putrid smells near La Guardia Airport.All of the projects were "earmarked" by individual lawmakers in a water-resources bill, which is moving through Congress in a process that critics say pours taxpayer dollars down the drain by putting decisions in the hands of legislators instead of agencies.
Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Queens) got the feds to kick in $2.7 million to help flush Flushing Bay to improve the water quality near La Guardia Airport, where past practices have soiled a once-tranquil inlet.
Critics like those that the NY Post fails to cite do not mention how the EPA has gone down that drain a long time ago. If the agencies are ineffective then you need to find a better way to get the job done. You can call it pork, but if chemicals have destroyed part of the natural habitat of a particular district, it needs to get fixed. We have spent hundreds of billions on Iraq and nothing has been accomplished. So shelling out a few million dollars to improve water quality is a much smarter allocation of dollars.
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